


Fifteen 'Til

by Circa



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Ann Is A Good Friend, Ann and Goro are BFFs who drink starbucks and judge you, F/F, Gen, Goro Is Afraid Of Parenthood, Goro needs 2 BF's, Kid Fic, Kinda, M/M, Other, brief mention of killing strawberries with forks, gross misuse of paint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 08:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16678183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Circa/pseuds/Circa
Summary: They’d bring it up eventually, anyway, and Goro didn’t have to simmer or panic until they were...more prepared? Made a power point? Yusuke had suggested an essay but neither of them wanted to do that much work.Akira and Yusuke want a child, but they're worried about how to bring it up to Goro. Goro already knows, and it's eating at him inside.Ann makes an offer, and holds his hand.Ann's a good friend.





	Fifteen 'Til

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written a fic in ages? And this was...way longer than I meant to make it but there you go I guess. I have no beta so this was edited by me after-the-fact. Let me know what you think?
> 
> Enjoy?

Akira and Yusuke want to have a child.

They’ve discussed this with each other, and separately with Futaba, about options. But as it were, neither had the confidence to approach Goro with the possibility. Goro and his opinion on children was a starkly grey area (as it was with most things). However, even Akira, in his infinite wisdom of understanding the particularly unique quirks of how his two lovers expressed themselves, didn’t really know how Goro might take to the idea.

Because of this previously uncharted Goro-territory, he and Yusuke chose kept it between themselves (and Futaba, and Morgana). They’d bring it up eventually, anyway, and Goro didn’t have to simmer or panic until they were...more prepared? Made a power point? Yusuke had suggested an essay but neither of them wanted to do that much work. They felt guilty keeping something from their shared lover, as the three were almost worryingly honest between them. But this was...a special circumstance, considering. The thing Yusuke and Akira didn’t know was that Goro already knew.

(You have zero percent change of keeping things from…anyone, really.  Especially with how quickly secrets spread in their bubble of Phantom Thieves.)

See, Futaba had let it slip to Makoto one day when she was discussing the “weekly overview” of the former PT’s and their now painfully boring lives. Makoto promised not to tell. But apparently this didn’t exclude Haru, her wife, so she tells Haru over dinner a few days later (after all, she knows Goro’s investigative skills better than anyone, and she was suitably worried). Haru, who immediately began worry about the possible rift that a secret like this could carve between their three friends, discussed her worries with Ann during an Okumura commercial shooting. And then in turn, Ann explains the situation to Goro. Because they’re both extremely close—growing up essentially parentless, struggling with oppressive and often violently (or sexually) abusive elders, trying to carry the weight over everyone’s constant conversation involving their names... Ann had quickly come to an understanding with Goro after his return. They’d been practically siblings since.

 

 So, as with most things in the Phantom Thieves, this didn’t stay a secret. And with most things between Yusuke, Goro and Akira? It was already known. Now, Goro has never mentioned that he _knew_ to Akira or Yusuke. And somehow no one _else_ knew Ann had told him (which was baffling). No one knew what else Ann had told him either, some weeks after initially mentioning it to him.

 

 

“I’d surrogate,” Ann said over lunch one day. They both had pretty little salads and teas to match, sitting in a dainty cafe in Shibuya. Goro looked up from where he’d been chasing a strawberry around his plate in an attempt to stab and consume it. “I would be happy to, you know. Shiho and I have talked about it anyway. We want kids someday, maybe, but I’m totally cool being the cool aunt for now. And despite how much Akira dresses like a woman, he can’t have a baby.”

“Does he know that? He’ll be so distressed to find out, he yells it at Yusuke all the time.”

“First of all, ew,” Ann snickers and Goro smiles a little to himself at her mirth. Triumph. Second triumph—he catches the strawberry on his fork.

“Second of all, I mean it.” Her expression softened. “I owe Akira like, so much. And if you all want a baby, I really wouldn’t mind surrogating.”

“Ann...”

“One condition though!” She lifted a finger and Goro exhaled slowly. He set his utensils down and folded his hands in his lap, waiting. She narrowed her eyes at him to ensure he was listning. It was generous of her, more than that, but even with the comforting idea of having two other people to stumble through parenthood with the concept still made his stomach twist.

“I’d expect nothing else for something this important.”

 “My terms are this—If, and when, Shiho and I want to have a kid of our own, you donate.” Goro was, for all intents and purposes, exceptionally glad he didn’t have either his tea cup of his utensils. He’d have probably stabbed through the plate in his surprise.

“Pardon?!”

“When Shiho And I want our own kid, I want you to donate.” She shrugged, as if talking about traffic or the weather, and returned her attention to her meal. Ann had exactly no trouble stabbing a strawberry onto her fork and stuffing it into her mouth. “If your boys want a baby, that’s fine, and I’m _happy_ to help. But if _I_ want one, I know who I want it’s father to be.”

“Ann, I’m not even sure I’m alright with handling one child. Two—“

“You’d be the cool uncle,” Ann looked back up. “Or, well, an uncle. You’re not the coolest person I know by a long shot.” She smiled and he shot her a withering look. “It would be Shiho’s and mine anyway, you like…sign over rights and stuff?”

“That’s…a very simplistic way to explain it—”

“Just, you’d be the dad from a distance—and be obligated to babysit. I would also be the default babysitter for your tiny terror.”

“...Ann,” Goro’s expression faltered. She gentled even further.

“Hey,” seeing his distress, she laid her fork down and reached out to take his hand across the table. “Hey, this stays between you and me. Deal? Like, for however long it needs to. I know that Akira is about as patient as death itself and Yusuke...forgets to breathe sometimes if he’s painting so, you have time.”

“I don’t know--”

“You’re it,” Ann said softy. “You’re the last little cog in this machine. It won’t start the big step forward until every part is ready. But you’re not under any pressure, either, okay? You know those two boys love you, more than anything. I do too. Take some time to think about it—and eat your salad. They have a season pudding I want to try and I _know_ you’re going to want a bite too!”

 

 

Goro left that lunch feeling like he had lead in his shoes and a hole in his heart. _Last little cog_ . He sat in silence on the train, watching the lights flash outside the windows as it sped through the tunnel. He felt a little like if he closed his eyes maybe, just maybe, he’d open them and find himself deep in the black pits of Momentos. In that moment, between one breath and the next, the concept seemed more appealing.

A child. The child itself wasn’t frightening of course it was what could happen to it.

What had happened to _Goro_.

The leather of his gloves creaked dangerously as he curled his fingers into tight fits. Would he even be a good parent? Akira and Yusuke would probably be monopolizing the child’s time parent-wise, of course. They had a never ending amount of patience between them as Ann had pointed out. Goro, though,  had a much, _much_ shorter fuse. One he had far less control of, after Shido’s fall from grace and his own miraculous survival.

An uncle then? Not a very cool uncle, like Ann suggested, but...there? But he did live with them, and _loved_ them, which wasn’t particularly “uncle”-like. Would this hesitation alienate him further from Akira and Yusuke? He doesn’t have very good parenting “genes” anyway, come to think of it. Shido was a piece of shit— Admittedly, Yusuke didn’t either (rather, he had a poor role model. Any parent who would paint their anguish over leaving a baby behind was probably intrinsically a Good Parent). Then again, Yusuke also hadn’t tried to violently murder someone he loved, committed multiple counts of successful murder, or promptly try to murder _himself_ . And while Akira’s actually parents just threw him out after his arrest, he did have Sojiro, who had unofficially adopted basically everyone else in the Phantom Thieves. And Akira a heart. Like, a substantially _good_ heart, which Goro decidedly didn’t.

He didn’t realize how cold it was outside until he stood in front of the door to his home. A home he shared with two other men; two men he loved immensely and had still tried to hurt once upon a time. Men he still struggled to be open with. Who wanted him there.

From inside, he heard what sounded to be one of Yusuke’s melodramatic cries of dissatisfaction and he finally managed to open the door. After shedding his shoes and blowing warm air into his hands to coax the blood back into his fingers, he ventured into the den. Only to find Akira covered in paint, sitting on a sheet of plastic, and laughing at something (probably Yusuke’s distress) while Yusuke lamented his ruined art (because apparently the easel fell over, somehow). The good heart Goro was convinced he didn’t have swelled _immediately_. Both

Yusuke and Akira turned to him as he walked in, and both immediately started talking over each other. Yusuke bequeathed him to convince Akira to sit still, while Akira ignored him entirely to stand up; and promptly covered Goro in paint as well, spreading the sticky colorful virus, with a bear hug and a dramatically loud kiss to the cheek.

Goro couldn’t help himself. He laughed.

It was like he left his fridged, frightened thoughts outside with the barely-there snow starting to fall. His stress evaporated off of his shoulders. Akira smelled like paint and curry and gunpowder (something that lingered on him even from their youth). The house was warm, and Yusuke was struggling mightily with his easel, and Akira was just so happy to watch him struggle—he was home. The first home he’d ever really, truly felt welcome. Why had he been so nervous before?

 The words bubbles up unbidden, but he found himself prepared for them anyway. When he opens his mouth to speak, it’s with confidence: “I know you both want a child.”

Carefully he wound his arms around a suddenly silent Akira, who stiffened. Yusuke looked about ready to swallow his paint just to get out of this conversation. Or maybe leap out the window, easel and all. “And I think...I have a way for us to accomplish this.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hello, and drop me some prompts!
> 
> hashtaghelp.tumblr.com!


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